The following is a post I wrote for my Computers and Writing course. In the course, we utilize a program called WebCt.
1. Do you think f2f communication important to a healthy society? If we communicate primarily through email, internet and such, how will this effect the growth of the society of tomorrow?
To begin I'll say I believe we as a species are very adaptive and adoptive.
Those who are exposed to tech can and do adapt to electronic processes involving information, communication, and interaction, although my 18 year old does not like reading online, while I do. But she is a wizard when text messaging. At the other end of the spectrum, my 81 year old father is very intrigued by all things tech--he was always an early adopter--cameras, recording equipment, any number of electronic devices. He told me he believes he was born 50 years too early; he would like a computer and a digital camera. At the moment, he is considering various cameras that will create images and prints without the need for a computer. Every once in a while I text message his cell phone just so he can figure out how to read it, and text me back. On the other hand, the most tech my mom uses is the telephone and the television.As far as effecting growth of society, I see this already. I interact and comment (nay even dis) those who give my older daughter a hard time when she posts entries to her blog.
Here is a good example, where we pseudonymously post. Later, as a follow-up, I discussed my process with my daughter on our landline.
- First read blog entry, downloaded mp3 offerings, then read the first and only comment at the time.
- Thought about the commentator, and smiled wryly while thinking about an appropriate response.
- Thought how comment effected daughter, then decided to wait until others commented positively to her writing style. 24 hours later, spent too much time to compose an appropriate response.
- Discussed event five hours later with daughter; recapped one another's reaction and others' responses to the original post and first comment; laughed, and finally, caught up other's events for the week..
- Finally, located exact URL for WebCT entry, noted there are now 9 comments.
Now I know most people to not behave as we do. I didn't even relate how I had to trouble shoot an old .asp file I'd written for my husband's website that was now failing because of server changes implemented by the host. I mean really, how many mother/daughter combinations used to post to AOL, original designs created for a mah jong game? How many wives have played Doom on a WAN with their husband and his business partners on a Friday night? (Man, I used to get vertigo from playing only 20 minutes.) How many mother's have a MySpace and (new today) Facebook page? (When I complain I can't find an appropriate alumnae page for my high school, The Judge (younger daughter) reminds me to remember there aren't very many parent's like me. (!!!!) Although, I am now part of El Paso, El Paso Flood, UTEP, and "You know you are from El Paso because" groups.
Overall, I think I am behind with tech, and yet I communicate with people all over the world through Flickr and the two blogs I maintain. In fact, Vox.com blogs are good for this. Their interface is socially orientated, much like LiveJournal. In general, it seems all new business apps strive for social interconnectivity and networking.
Librarything.com is designed to interact with others of similar tastes, while Amazon.com has a huge community of reviewers. This is the future of tech and human interaction through them.However, I must talk with friends via phone or F2F. I call my parents everyday, but feel guilt if I do not visit F2F every other week. How will this how will this effect society's growth in the future? To me, the future is the past plus the present. This means that we will continue until hitting a tipping point. At that point wlll all have cell phones that will conduct business/banking transactions, unlock car doors/homes via the internet, and receive images from fathers who are out taking pictures with their new digital cameras.
